Business

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·18 Mar 2020

Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:

Load shedding: No load shedding is expected today, but Eskom warns that the system remains volatile. The group is using emergency reserves during peak hours.

• Panic at the Makro: Government has called on retailers in South Africa to apply limits on what customers in the country can buy at stores in a bid to stop panic buying in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Shoppers have been queuing up and leaving shelves empty, posing a risk for others who may be in desperate need for food and sanitisation products. Massmart, Checkers and Pick n Pay have already adopted limits on certain items, including toilet paper, hand sanitiser and certain long-life products. [Business Day]

• Travel bans: South Africa has extended its international travel bans to two more countries – Switzerland and France – adding to the list of other high-risk countries that will be denied entry into South Africa. These include the US, the UK, China, Spain, Italy, Iran, South Korea and Germany. No applications for visas by foreign travellers from these high-risk countries will be approved, and visas already granted will be revoked. [Bloomberg]

• Good sports: Minister of sports and recreation has greenlit the continuation of sports activities and leagues behind closed doors. The sports sector will be hard-hit by government’s restrictions on gatherings, but sees no reason not to continue with fixtures behind close doors, as long as the strictest hygiene and sanitisation protocols are in place. This gives the green light to things like the PSL and other leagues to go ahead, should they choose to do so. [Mail & Guardian]

• Scam alert: The South African Reserve Bank has appealed to citizens to not make mass withdrawals of cash, in panic over fake messages being sent on social media and chat groups that government was going to start recalling money amid the coronavirus outbreak. The Reserve Bank says it is not recalling any coins or notes – and has warned against scammers and criminals posing as officials ‘collecting’ money to hand in to the police. [EWN]

• Markets: South Africa’s rand strengthened against the dollar on Tuesday, a day after the country’s currency, stocks and government bonds plunged on panic over the coronavirus pandemic. However, the currency remains volatile, and is expected to continue trading in a wide range. Investors’ focus would be on South Africa’s central bank rates decision on Thursday, where an interest rate cut is expected. On Wednesday, the rand was at R16.60 to the dollar, R20.11 to the pound and R18.31 to the euro. [XE]

Coronavirus: Globally there have been 198,517 confirmed cases, with 82,763 recoveries and 7,988 deaths. There are 107,766 active cases, where 6,415 are in critical condition. South Africa has 85 confirmed cases.